2018 Best of Swiger Photography
Sitting down to write this post feels like taking a deep breath…that exhale that comes after holding your breath for so long. This year has been a busy one, so many beautiful Philadelphia area weddings and even some shoots/weddings in Ohio, Baltimore, New York, New Jersey and Delaware! I have been so lucky to be apart of such different weddings this year and to work with so many different folks on a wide variety of projects and shoots and it feels so incredible to scroll through all of these images. You are all so incredible!!!
I started a new tradition with my best of boudoir post (click here if you’d like to check that out!!) of selecting a photo of the year and I think I am going to carry that over to here as well. Picking just one image to call my 2018 favorite is SO HARD. The top favs for portraits include so many people I adore and images I am so proud of but this image speaks to me for a lot of reasons but I’ll to share a few. The first is that this year was a year of loving and hating light. My studio had too much of it, most of my wedding days had not enough of it and as someone who always ran from shadows, learning to embrace them and see the beauty they bring to images was a battle. I also love the quiet way this image draws you in, the confident calmness that Taylor has in it and the way the shadows perfectly frame her face. And to be honest, I also just love the memory of this day, walking around my new neighborhood in Philly with some incredible babes.
For my favorite wedding image….Oh ya’ll this was a HARD! There were so many moments, so many images that just spoke to me and were favorites, but I decided to go with an image that seemed to be a favorite in almost every category. Nuriya and Jess had one of my all time favorite wedding days and it was a day that I really pushed myself to do more, try new things and be present with my couple in new ways. And it paid off. This image is from their first look, right before they opened their eyes for the first time to see the woman that in a few short hours would be their wife. I remember telling them that and having them take a few deep breaths and the joy and excitement, but also the peace, was something you could feel. I remember vividly the tears I had in that moment and the ones that followed! This quickly became my favorite way to do first looks because I loved how intimate and how much emotion they tend to have, but theirs was the first and now we refer to this type of first look between Jordan and I as “the Nuriya and Jess.”
And on a more me note, I also chose this image because shooting backlit is something I often struggle with and yet I knew this was the only spot that made sense for their first look. I was so nervous to get this perfect and pushed myself out of my comfort zone and it paid off big time! And I am so proud of how these turned out!
Well get ready to scroll friends because below is the narrowed down favorites from 2018 and I am so excited to share my personal favorite images from this year! And a HUGE thank you to every single one of you here for allowing me to be apart of your lives and days and to photograph you! I adore you all so much!
